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>> the meeting is being called to order. at this time, we ask if you please turn off or silent all cell phones and pagers. and at this time we would also like to thank sfgovtv and media services for their continued support of our meetings. first item is roll call. commissioner adams ? >> here. >> commissioner dooley? >> here. >> commissioner dwight? >> here. >> commissioner o'brien? commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> here. >> commissioner white? >> here. >> commissioner yee riley? >> mr. president, we have a quorum. >> okay, next item. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena, could you check your microphone. i wasn't able to hear you. >> here. >> thank you. commissioner item 2 is presentation of the small business commission certificate of honor. recognizing a city employee laura arriola, as part of the sbc city employee recognition

program. this is a discussion item. welcome. >> come right here. >> okay. we would like to present you today with this certificate of honor, the small business commission is proud to acknowledge the contributions that laura arriola of the puc has made to the san francisco small business community, providing excellent customer service to san francisco's small businesses. laura helps businesses comply with capacity charge regulations. serving in a much broader role, office of small business staff knows that miss arriola has served as the liaison to the department, constantly going above and beyond her duties in order to assist the small business puc issues. miss arriola exemplifies what

the small business community can achieve. congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> would you like to say a few words? >> i have worked for the city over ten years and i think that the city does a great job. and most of the time, if you can explain the problems, or explain the issues, the answers they may not be the ones that our customers, our clients, our citizens are looking for, but if they understand the issues, then they are satisfied. and usually happy. and sometimes it's just explaining it. so i am happy to be a part of the city family. i am happy to help with any and all problems. if the puc is involve, if i can't sense it, i'm sure i can direct it to the correct person. thank you very much. it really is an honor. it says certificate of honor, but it really is. thank you so much.

[ applause ] and i just want to say on a personal note, laura, i mean, the staff recommended you to receive the honor and being recognized as a city employee. and just really appreciate the work that you do to help support our staff as well. so in case the commissioners don't know, laura sort of works with one of our favorite issues impact fees. so we're really -- it's just a real great pleasure to work with her. it's a touchy, sensitive thing for our businesses and they often don't like to hear in relationship to the impact fees, but laura is clearly able to articulate and deliver the information and work with us. so we really appreciate it. >> thank you. this is very exciting for me. thank you very much.

>> next item, mr. president. >> next item. >> commissioners item 3 presentation of the small business commission certificate of honor recognizing the san francisco small business noe valley merchants association as part of the sbc small business recognition program this. is a discussion item. >> commissioners, it's my honor to -- with my recommendation, to acknowledge the noe valley merchant's association for the work that they do around disability access, and compliance and working with their small businesses. on this monday, january 14th, the small business commission is proud to acknowledge the noe

valley merchants' association for their exemplary commitment to education and assist businesss in noe valley on disability access requirements. the noe valley merchants' the association understands that continued disability outreach and education is about maintaining the economic preservation of their merchant corridor and it is the only merchants association in san francisco that has established a standing committee to develop comprehensive outreach -- excuse me. that establishes a standing committee and developed a comprehensive outreach and education program and assist businesses that are in pre-and post-litigation. the small business commission commends the noe valley merchants association as an outstanding merchants association not only for their dedication to the businesss in their districts, but also for

being a strong citywide and statewide voice for businesses and individuals with disabilities around the issue of disability access compliance. so thank you. [ applause ] so i just have a few other notes. is that the noe valley merchants association has made this a standing committee. and they twice a month have an ongoing meeting, where businesses can drop in, work on policy issues. i think what has been really excellent is that they have gone door-to-door to all the businesses in the noe valley district. not just their membership to outreach and do education. and while -- and as a result of that, several businesses, who had the letters were proactive,

did a cast inspection. at minimum they have saved over $100,000 for businesses in their areas from preventing them from going into litigation. and so that, i definitely want to recognize. the other component is that while they have gone door-to-door, we also have seen businesses that did not necessarily respond or take heed to the information. and so the noe valley merchants are a very good voice, because they have done a lot of work. and so when they are talking to our state and federal representatives, they can really talk about the difficulties of small businesses really understanding the regulations and the nuances and why it's very confusing and why businesses just don't immediately respond. and so they are a great partner for our office, and for you as the commission to be a business

that is a voice. so i really appreciate that. >> thank you very much. >> mr. president and commissioners, i want to thank you for this award. i also want to thank those members of the noe valley merchants professional association that have dedicated their time, effort and expense to shared participation in the ongoing committee. without their participation, this award would not be possible. i thank glen sanderson, noe valley. susan wallia, castro computer services, michael, rockwell properties. raji, attorney at law and numerous others. a defect in the yadaa law has

emerged which seriously penalizing the micro small businesses. and is causing many to close their doors. the requirement that the merchant pay all attorney fees and costs of litigation in the application of strict liability penaltis is driving many of the neighborhood businesses out of business. the community and the neighborhoods lose and the disabled community loses. all because of the harsh penalties and punitive costs involved. implementation, we can afford, but not the cost of implementation or penalties. therefore, i challenge all our legislators in the county, state and federal levels to remedy this problem. again, i thank you. remember, the by word is

"implementation, not penalties." thank you. [ applause ]

[ applause ] >> next item. >> commissioners item 4, general public comment. this allows members of the public to comment generally on matters within the commission's purview and suggest future agenda items for the commissioner's consideration. discussion item. >> are there any members of public here to discuss any items not op today's agenda? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item. >> commissioners item 5, discussion and possible action to make recommendations to the board of supervisors on board of supervisors file no. 121 200 administrative code contractor prompt payment for public works

construction and professional service contract. we have in your binder the legislative file, the legislative digest along with related state legislation. and we have a presentation by katy tang, ladies and legislative aide to carmen chu. >> i think that the legislation before you is pretty basic. last year sb293 was signed into law at the state level, and our legislation proposal before you today is actually very much in line with what state was doing. no. 1 is that it makes it a requirement in the city for prime contractors to pay their subcontractors within 7 calendar days. previously, there -- or currently there is actually no requirement from the city to make payment within a certain amount of days. however, i just want to make note that under chapter 14b, there is a requirement to pay lbes within

three days. so we feel that again the seven calendar days in line with the state law is something that will help with cash flow issues, especially during our tough economy. this is very inline with some of the legislation that supervisor chu has worked on in past to help make it easier for contractors working with our city. the second change, very basic also has to do with enforcement of this provision. so again, we're mimicking what state law did, which is that any contractor who does not pay their sub within seven calendar days, and we had a couple of stakeholder meetings not only with department folks, but contractors in the community. and some of them had voiced they would really like to see legislation that mirrors what the state does. they do [tpwho-rbgt/] just

work not only in san francisco, but all over the area and would like to see some consistency with the various laws. the other thing we also want to recognize, i know mohammed has a task force and they are looking into prompt payment issues. so we also want to be cognizant there is that parallel process going on. they are working on, for example, systems to make it more transparent in terms of when a contractor receives payment from the city, so a sub can look that up online and see when that is going to happen. we do want to recognize not only is there this legislation, but a process going on right now. so i just really want to urge your support of this legislation and happy to answer any questions. >> any commissioner comments? commissioner yee riley? >> i think it makes sense.

i would like to hear if there is any public comment and if developers have problems with that? >> that is what i would like to hear, too. >> let's open it up for public comment. do we have any public comment on item no. 5? no public comment on item no. 5? okay, public comment for item no. 5 is closed. in my opinion this is pretty straightforward legislation and it's inline with the state law and legislation. >> i move we support the legislation as drafted. >> second. >> >> roll call, please. >> >> commissioners, we have a motion by commissioner dwight for the small business commission to recommend to the board of supervisors approval of board of supervisors file no. 121 200. that is seconded by

commissioner dooley and on the roll call, commissioner adams? >> aye. >> commissioner dooley? >> yes. >> commissioner dwight? >> yes. >> commissioner olebron? o'brien? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> yes. >> commissioner white? >> yes. >> commissioner yee riley? >> yes. >> commissioners that passes 7-0. >> thank you for your time. >> thanks. >> next item. >> commissioners item 6 and possible action to make recommendations to the board of supervisors on board of supervisors file no. 121105, administrative code expanding the public utilities commission local business enterprise contracting ordinance. in your binder is the board file number and the legislative digest and we have representatives from the puc here to speak to the issue. >> great. welcome. >> good afternoon

commissioners. i am from the puc and here to talk about the proposed legislation. currently within the admin code 14b we have a program to certify small businesses. the admin code currently recognizes this is the informally the hrc program which is now under contract division. in 2006 that program was expanded to also include firms that are also outside of the city of san francisco to support the contractors working on the puc and water system improvements programs. as that program comes to an end, which we are in the latter phases of the water system improvement program, we have currently certified 200 plus

firms over the last several years. if we don't expand that program, all of those firms that were certified over the last five years or so, those firms won't have any future opportunities to participate under the city's small business program. therefore, working with the puc, and with our partners that manage the lbe program, and developed the proposed legislation, which would expand the program to projects that aren't just funded by the bond dollars for the water system improvement program. but would also include shared cost funds and those outside of the city of san francisco. so this is not a new program. this is really an expansion of the current program.

and it's really -- the main focus of it is to continue to provide the same opportunities that the firms that we have currently certified, they can continue to enjoy the benefits of the program that we have right now. so these are firms that are consulting the local business to find out if they would have a problem with the puc or the city more generally in expanding that program. we have heard consistently pretty much from all the san francisco-based firms that we polled that they are not in objection to this ordinance. because they support the ordinance because in large part they are not willing or they don't have any interest in driving to moccasin, driving tosonora and driving to the

projects. if it's not going to a san francisco small business, at least those that work and those dollars will go to businesss insonora and moccasin. so i'm here to answer any questions. >> commissioner questions? commissioner ortiz-cartagena? >> my question, i used to be a former member of the lbe, so i understand the program pretty well. my only question, would a firm from sonora come to the city and compete? >> no. that is a great question. you can only receive your bid discount or be used to met the lbe subcontracting goal in two kinds of projects. one is a project that is

integrated, 70 miles outside of the city or two, a shared-cost project from the puc. so for example, if a rec and park or muni or other departments have a project inside of the city, those firms cannot come in and get that bid discount and cannot be used as an lb subcontractor. you are almost building a bubble, if you will, as local opportunities. and to answer your question, no, those firms cannot come in and be used to meet local goals. >> okay. thank you. >> any other commissioner comments? >> makes sense to me. >> makes very much sense. okay, let's have public comment. do we have any members of the public who have any comments on it no. 6? okay, seeing none, public comments is closed.

commissioners? >> i move we approve as drafted. >> second. >> roll call. >> commissioners, i have a motion -- we have a motion from commissioner dwight to recommend to the board of supervisors the small business commission recommended approval of file 121105, seconded by commissioner dooley. on the roll call, commissioner adams? >> yes. >> commissioner dooley? >> yes. >> commissioner dwight? >> yes. >> commissioner o'brien? >> yes. >> commissioner ortiz-cartagena (yes. >> commissioner white. yes. >> commissioner yee riley? >> yes. >> commissioners that motion passes 7-0. >> thank you, director dick-endrizzi. >> yes, i wanted to extend a thank you to the puc, even though the lbes in san francisco are not necessarily part of this. but that their commitment to small businesses to make sure that this program extends. so

as an entity, i just appreciate your commitment to small businesses. >> thank you. there is a lot of niners and giant fans out there. >> right >> ? [ laughter ] >> next item. >> commissioners you are now on item no. 7, discussion of possible action to adopt a small business commission letter to mayor lee on the cpuc proposal to add 628 area code to the 415 area code service area. this is a discussion and possible action item. >> this is something that we discussed at our committee meeting last week. and if you look at your papers, you will see that there is a possible adding of 628 area code as we run out of 415. we discussed many possible

alternatives. our committee favored requesting -- well, there were several options. we really feel that the idea of only giving the eastern part of san francisco 415 and transitioning everyone else to 628, along with marin is kind of divisive for our city. so we have some other recommendations. chris, do you want to go through those? >> commissioners, thank you. i provided you a written overview and i'm going to provide a brief overview and also for the members of the public that are joining us. the california public utilities commission is currently considering several proposals, the 415 area code is nearing exhaustion of its current number of phone number allotments and estimate by 2015 the 415 area code will run out of phone numbers. so the cpuc

in conjunction with the national agency are currently seeking public input on several options to alleviate that issue. that option will consist of introducing the 628 area code into the 415 geographic territory. there are two general options that they have. one is a geographic split, where geographically they will split the had 15 area code off and introduce 628 which will allow folks to receive new phone numbers. one of the options that they presented and there is a map in your packet. i will put it on the overhead projector for members of the public. sfgovtv, if we could get the overhead, please? as you can see, from the overhead, the geographic split option that they are currently

exploring is to split off the eastern side of san francisco, to retain one area code. and western san francisco, northern san mateo county and marin would have a different area code. they haven't specified which would be 628 versus 415, but the proposal is to have this geographic split. this is one option that they have. the other option that they are exploring is called an overlay, where the 628 area code would overlap with the 415 area code and essentially new phone numbers as numbers are exhausted and companies pick up new numbers, would pick up 628. they would introduce ten-digit dialing. and that would not necessitate folks to receive new phone

numbers. as commissioner dooley referenced, the outreach and economic committee met, and reviewed and prepared a draft letter, which is in your binder, following the maps. and just to kind of outline the letter. the committee recognized the 415 is synonymous with san francisco, is iconic to san francisco and that the brand identity helps attract businesses, retain and grow business. the letter outlines the two alternatives. it proposes a preferred alternative on behalf of the commission, which would have a geographic split that retains san francisco as an entirety having the 415 area code and marin would transition to the of 28 area code and there is also estimate to have northern san mateo go to the 62 area code. the commission and this letter recognizes that the 415 may exau